Breathing is a subconscious thing. We do it even without realising it. It is only when we smell something foul that we pause and try not to breath in the noxious fumes.

That moment comes once a year when our friendly neighbour starts burning land to make way for new planting season. This year is no different, in fact it might earn the notorious title for being the worst yet with air quality breaching the API 300 level in certain areas and comes in different shades of grey. Perhaps Hollywood could make another blockbuster out of this.

Malaysians however only fuss when the air turns visibly grey (or orange) during this annual ‘air crisis’. What about air pollution that our government is responsible for creating?

I am asking this question with reference to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Damansara Shah Alam Highway (Dash) project that has been given the green light by the Department of Environment (DOE).

Our government declared that API 100-200 is unhealthy during the haze and ordered schools to close, with advice that outdoor activities should be minimised whenever the readings hit this stage.

In giving their blessings to the highway project, DOE gave Dash a daily pollution limit of API150, which is unhealthy!

Considering that the Dash Environmental Impact Assessment report states that an estimated 50,000 vehicles would pass through the highway daily, it would be unsurprising that the air pollution would reach unhealthy levels.

What I want to know is why the DOE would deem subjecting residents living along the periphery of a highway to such pollution levels on a daily basis to be okay?

Anybody who can do a quick google on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines for Particulate Matters will realised that our local limit is three times higher than the recommended level of tolerable API 50.

That’s not all, we also notice that the WHO has another set of air quality guideline for long-term exposure which sets a far lower API level. If we were to benchmark, then the DOE’s guidelines will be 7.5 times higher!

I would like the DOE to explain why such relaxed standard continues to be used when it is human health hazard we are facing and when the subject matter is a monstrous permanent highway set to be 11-14 metres away from our windows of our homes?

Unlike the haze, Dash is not a once-a-year incident, Dash will be a permanent structure approved and condoned by the governments that will be encouraging traffic pollution and with it, constantly spewing tonnes of toxic exhaust fumes into an already densely populated township - oblivious to the environment and the living in the township.

Exhaust fumes the biggest pollutant

Forest burning aside, the biggest air pollutant is motor vehicle exhaust fumes. This fact was also reaffirmed by our Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

In fact, many international studies conducted such as the Harvard Study on Ultra-Fine Particulate Matters near Highways and the Tufts Study on Near Highway Pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks show evidence that steep gradients of certain pollutants and ultra fine particulates exist next to heavily traveled highways and that those living within these elevated pollution zones can have detrimental effects on human health.

The Harvard studies recommends that the critical distance of any populated homes and neighbourhoods to any open and elevated highway should be no less than 100 metres. Where does Dash even stand in this? 11-14 metres?

So, drawing from data in the EIA, Damansara Perdana already fails to meet WHO’s 2005 guideline for PM10. Why are we digging deeper when we are already in a pit?

Keep highways away from residential areas. Air pollution kills.

CHIN KOK YEN is a resident of Petaling Jaya.